Summary:

Storm on Demand is a subsidiary of Liquid Web and offers a variety of cloud hosting services on their powerful, custom platform. By taking a page from their parent company’s managed hosting services, Storm on Demand allows you to choose the management level of your server depending on your specific needs. Keep reading our Storm On Demand review to find out more!

While Liquid Web (check out our review) specializes in fully managed dedicated servers, Storm On Demand only offers cloud hosting, with all servers being deployed in cloud-only data centers in Arizona and Michigan (including a 90,000 square foot data center!).

You can choose the level of management Storm On Demand gives you for your server, ranging from self-managed for professionals, to core-managed where they manage the hardware and crucial software, and finally, fully managed. Regardless of the type of management you choose, you can take comfort in a 365/24-7 customer support team that ranks among the best in the industry.

Sounds good so far? Keep scrolling to find out more in our Storm on Demand review!

Storm on Demand Pricing and Plans

Storm on Demand follows a similar pricing model to Liquid Web (for obvious reasons) where you pay for the resources you use and the management you need, while also adapting a welcome pay-as-you-go option (similar to Digital Ocean) if you just need a few hours to work on or test your website.

Storm on Demand has Linux and Windows cloud servers available, although their Windows options are a little sparse when compared to the multitude of Linux plans. Linux servers start at $35 a month for their entry level plan (without cPanel), while Windows servers will run you $80 a month.

Dedicated servers start at $159 a month for an Intel Xeon E3-1271 CPU with eight gigs of RAM and 220 GBs of SSD storage. All plans also include one public IP address, with additional IP addresses available for $1 a month.

Management for your server starts at $20 a month, while bandwidth and backups are paid by the GBs you actually use.

Storm on Demand Features

Storm on Demand is primarily geared towards experienced cloud developers and heavy-traffic website owners, and their Storm platform is specifically designed with their target market in mind. You can get a server setup in minutes, scale server resources with a simple click, and the optional management features eliminate the need to spend hours setting up and updating your server’s back end.

Linux users will be happy to see CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora OS options, and you can also clone and copy your server images over to new instances at any time. If your site has global audience, Storm on Demand also offers CDN services through Akamai for $100 a month (one TB/month plan).

Are you running a heavy traffic site that relies on high availability and fast page load times? Storm on Demand utilizes enterprise level hardware in addition to offering industry-leading DDoS protection starting at $500 a month. While these prices might seem somewhat high for most entry-level website owners, the security and peace of mind might be worth it depending on your website.

Storm on Demand has a total of four data center locations in Michigan and Arizona, with all data centers being SSAE-16 compliant, as well as featuring full power redundancy and 24/7 on-site monitoring.

Storm on Demand’s SLA guarantees network and power infrastructure to be at 100% uptime. It is stated in the SLA that if you experience any service interruptions, Storm on Demand will credit your account for 10 times the actual amount of downtime you experience.

Storm on Demand Customer Service

Of course one of the most important areas we look at when reviewing new hosting providers is their customer service, especially when examining a premium service such as Storm on Demand.

Luckily, Storm on Demand utilizes the same customer service format as it’s parent company, Liquid Web, and provides 24/7/365 support via telephone, e-mail, and live chat. Storm on Demand’s “Heroic” technicians are level 3 engineers who are industry experts and are split into teams according to their specialty (backup management, hardware and software technicians, etc).

As a general rule of thumb, social media tends to be a pretty good indicator of how a host performs in regards to customer service, as customers typically tend to share their thoughts if something either goes really well or really bad! Taking a look at mentions of Storm on Demand on Twitter revealed no negative mentions of their service, as we instead found numerous positive tweets regarding their service!

It is worth noting that Storm on Demand does not offer a money back guarantee, meaning you should really only give them a go if you know what you are getting into. They do offer a pro-rated refund if you cancel your service with them, although the request has to be done in writing.

Storm on Demand Review Conclusion

I liked

Hourly pricing

Server image backups

1 click scaling

I wasn’t so sure about

Not a ton of Windows hosting options

cPanel and Plesk are an extra $20 a month

I hated

No money-back guarantee

Is Storm on Demand meant for everyone? Definitely not, as their service is both on the pricey and technologically advanced side. They are essentially the cloud version of Liquid Web, offering managed, high-quality servers with premium support and features such as Load Balancing, DDOS protection, and more.

We really liked the ability to quickly and easily scale your server depending on usage, while the hourly pricing feature allows you pay only for the resources you actually use.

If you are a small blog or personal website, we recommend checking out other providers (check out our recommendations here), but for those looking for premium managed cloud hosting, Storm on Demand is an excellent choice. Check them out using the link below!

Written by Thomas UjjThomas Ujj is an expat/traveler and IT enthusiast with a passion for IT security and privacy. When he isn’t planning his next trip, he likes to take time to practice his Italian cooking as well as religiously watching Italian football team AS Roma.